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7.9.12 Farmer
5
news
CE92a
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>> PUGGED PASTURE >> RE-GRASSING
>> >> WINTER FEED CROPS
CELLI SPIKES ROTORS - ONE PASS!
Fine of $50,000 for effluent spill
Riversdale dairy farmer plans to stand up for other farmers with appeal
Your say
Do you think Gilbert Watt should
pay the almost $50,000 fine? Do
you think its fair? Email
diane.bishop@stl.co.nz
Not happy:
Riversdale farmer
Gilbert Watt.
Riversdale dairy farmer Gilbert
Watt says he will appeal an
almost $50,000 fine for the
unlawful discharge of dairy shed
effluent.
He believes the incident would
not have happened if his contract
milker, who was responsible for
effluent application on the prop-
erty, had not left a pipe undone
and if Environment Southland
had instructed him to fit a fail-safe
device to the effluent system.
''I'm the innocent party here.
''The whole thing just pisses me
off,'' Mr Watt said.
However, Environment South-
land says it won't be held
accountable.
Compliance manager Mark
Hunter said it was up to farmers
to make sure they had fail-safe
devices.
''It's not our job. We look at the
effluent application and if it meets
the standards of consent as well as
pond levels and plans,'' he said.
Mr Watt said the effluent spill
happened around March 30, when
he discovered a hansen fitting had
been disconnected and effluent
was being pumped from the
disconnected pipeline onto the
ground, entering ditches and
swales, and flowing into Sand-
stone Creek.
Environment Southland investig-
ated after they received a
complaint that afternoon about
contamination in the creek from a
landowner about 3km down-
stream and Mr Watt stood trial in
the Environment Court in Inver-
cargill last month.
Mr Watt was found guilty and
fined $48,000, but court costs and
other associated costs took it up to
$49,262.89.
He was responsible for the
incident because the resource
consent to apply effluent was in
his name.
Mr Watt said he was ''treated like
a criminal'' during the almost
three day trial and will appeal the
fine, which is due to be paid by
September 19, through his lawyer.
''I nearly broke down a few times
(in court) and I'm pretty tough.''
Mr Watt said he did not believe
his contract milker, who was
fined $5000 for his part in the
incident, had left the pipe undone
deliberately, but the pair did not
get on.
The contract milker has since left
the property, where he milked 450
cows on 270ha for Mr Watt, and it
has been sold, although Mr Watt
still farms a similar number of
cows on an adjacent farm, Poplar
Trust.
Mr Watt said he was standing up
for other dairy farmers who could
find themselves in a similar
situation through no fault of their
own.
''It's a matter of principle.
''Who are they (Environment
Southland) going to do next?''
Contrary to popular belief, dairy
farmers did not have a ''pocket
full'' of money and he could not
afford to pay the hefty fine, he
said.
''Where am i supposed to get
$48,000 from?
''I don't have that in my back
pocket.''
Mr Watt believed Environment
Southland were partly to blame
for the incident because they had
inspected his effluent system on
several occasions and told him it
was compliant.
''They should have served me
with a 28-day abatement notice
and instructed me to get a fail-safe
system.
''It's half their fault.''
Mr Watt has since changed his
own irrigation system from a
travelling irrigator to more
reliable K-Line pods on a timer
system.
''It's running for no more than 15
minutes at a time and then its got
to be checked.''